21 goals in three matches between relegation teams! The Premier League relegation battle took many twists and turns yesterday as the worst teams in the league all combined for 21 goals scored in their 3, respective, matches.
Well, these teams certainly are feeling the dooming presence of relegation now.
Southampton, Leicester City, Everton, and Nottingham Forrest, four of the five statically worst teams in the league this season all faced off against challenging opponents (including some facing one another) yesterday in what can only be described as the Battle of Relegation with the goalscoring, passion, celebrations, defense, and resolve to win shown. It truly was one of the best days of Premier League football I’ve ever seen.
Just putting aside the fact for a moment that four relegation threatened teams, each of whom have averaged less than two goals/game coming into the day (Southampton: 1.21 G/GM, Leicester City: 1.35 G/GM, Everton: 1.26, Nottingham Forrest: 1.13 G/GM), all scored 3+ goals themselves and played in games that averaged at least 7 goals in the same day of football, there was incredible fight shown by all of these teams to stay in the league.
Well, at least three of the four teams. Looking at you, Leicester City.
Aside from Leicester, who went down 4-0 within 50 minutes against Fulham (and ended up losing 5-3) and looked utterly pathetic for 3/4 of the game, Southampton, Nottingham Forrest, and Everton all had match of the year performances from their players, even though only two of the three won.
Starting with Everton, they put the high-flying Brighton to the sword five times over as they scored a whopping 5 goals AT Brighton, making it the highest goalscoring output they’ve had in the last three years (5-2 win vs. Fleetwood Town) and the largest win since 2018 (5-1 victory vs. Burnley).
Everyone in the Everton frontline and midfield played phenomenal in front of goal as the team not only scored 3 goals in the opening 40 minutes, 4 unanswered goals, and 5 goals in total, but also key players Dwight McNeil and Abdoulaye Doucoure both scored doubles. Plus, really out-of-form players like Alex Iwobi, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Idrissa Gana Gueye, and Amadou Onana all were heavily involved with either assists, secondary assists, or key tackles to start the devastating counter attacks.
And it mainly was counter attacks that gave Everton this win as they finished the game with just 22% of the ball (Brighton had 78%), under 250 passes (Brighton had 771), 65% passing accuracy (Brighton was 88%), had 1 corner (Brighton had 15), and just 10 shots (Brighton had 23). A Dyche masterclass to perfection.
As for Nottingham Forrest vs. Southampton, this was probably the match of the day for me.
Both teams gave their all to win as they knew whoever lost was probably getting relegated…which ended up being Southampton as they fell 4-3. Still, even though Southampton now sit 8 points adrift of safety with just 3 matches left (they essentially need to win out and pray to the Football Gods that Everton doesn’t pick up another point), the fight they showed against a Forrest side that equally put in the desperation needed to win was very impressive.
Going down 2-0 after 20 minutes, then trailing 3-1 at halftime, and then trailing 4-2 with 75 minutes off the clock did not lower the heads of this Southampton side as they fought back after each Forrest lead. Sure, this side isn’t good enough to stay up in the Premier League (and I’d only say James Ward-Prouse, Romeo Lavia, and maybe Alex McCarthy are Premier League quality players), but that didn’t stop Southampton from halving the Forrest deficit on three separate occasions.
That may not seem too impressive but given how a former Premier League and FA Cup winning side like Leicester City folded worse than a cheap suit when up against the pressure of relegation, I’d say that’s a moral win for this Championship-bound squad.
As for Forrest, how about the job Steve Cooper has done with this side!
Of course, the job is not finished yet and Forrest only sit 16th with 33 PTS (just 3 above the drop zone) but be sitting within a safety spot for the next season after bringing in 30 new players is utterly remarkable. We’ve seen in the past (Fulham 2020/21) and this season (Chelsea) that overhauling a squad and expecting it to compete is tantamount to jumping into a pit of vipers and hoping they don’t bite you.
It’s asinine, yet somehow Forrest might pull it off.
But, through a masterclass in coaching on Steve Cooper’s side, this Forrest team has a great shot of staying within the division for a second season.
So, as for my predictions as to who goes down with just three games left, these are my silly probabilities: Southampton (20th) have a 99.9% chance of going down, Leeds (19th) have a 65% chance of going down, Leicester City (18th) have an 80% chance of going down, Everton (17th) have a 20% chance of going down, and Nottingham Forrest (16th) have a 15% chance of going down.
I know Leeds are in 19th, but I just feel like there’s a chance Big Sam can get two results against West Ham and Tottenham for this club to miraculously survive, while this Everton performance may be the proverbial “calm before the storm” as they’ve not had such a good performance all season long.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but this is such a great relegation battle.
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